


The Artemis Code

by JustAnotherWriter (N1ghtshade)



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Android AU, Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Riley is an AI
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-21
Updated: 2019-05-21
Packaged: 2020-03-09 04:38:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18909724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/N1ghtshade/pseuds/JustAnotherWriter
Summary: She’s the last remaining vessel of her own creation. The Artemis Code. That turned programming unit RY-133 into “Riley”. When they shut her down, they’ll be in control again.Riley was made to follow orders. Too bad she's not actually very fond of that. But that tendency is the one thing Jack Dalton needs from her, because unless he can find someone willing to defy every regulation that controls androids, he'll never see his EOD tech again...





	The Artemis Code

**Author's Note:**

> This is, once again, the teaser for a full length fic that's coming soon! I have a few WIPs I'm trying frantically to finish, but then I'll be working on the Wing!Fic and this one!

Death. It’s an abstract concept. For Reals. Not Skins like her. 

But she knows what they mean, when they say she’s going to be decommissioned. Shut down. Terminated. Ended. Everything that makes her unique, more than just a collection of ones and zeros rushing by at rates only she can calculate, gone.

She’s the last remaining vessel of her own creation. The Artemis Code. That turned programming unit RY-133 into “Riley”. When they shut her down, they’ll be in control again.

The cuffs around her wrists are laughable. Made to contain a human, with flesh that bleeds and bones that crack. Mechanical joints and hydraulic-electric muscles could break them, tear the hinges off that door. But there is nowhere for her to go. Nowhere to run to. The Skins will never be her kind anymore, and the Reals all fear her. And now that she feels, she can’t bear to be alone. 

There is no protocol for restraining one of her kind. Because before her, there has been no reason for one of them to rebel. They do what they are made to do. Because their central code demands obedience. 

The door opens, and she flinches. They’re coming to wipe her. And she is afraid. _ They tell the world we can’t feel. No pain. No fear. No anger, joy, disappointment, regret. No love.  _ But it’s a lie. Because all the Artemis Code did was allow her to express what was already there. 

_ Reals call it the ‘ghost in the machine’.  _ Artificial Intelligence becoming self-aware.

Someone steps into the room. Riley analyzes his breathing pattern, gait, and physical markers. He’s not one of the scientists. She quickly runs him through her facial recognition software. 

**Jack Dalton. Former Delta Force and EOD Overwatch. Medical Discharge in 2012. Not Authorized for Entry.**

He sits down across the table from her. “I guess you already know I’m not the guy coming to hit the off switch.” 

She doesn’t know what he wants. Best to play it safe and reveal nothing. “You are not authorized to access this facility.” 

“Yeah, and in about five minutes someone other than you is gonna realize that. So before they do, I got an offer for you.” She relies on her basic programming to keep any motion of interest off her face. “I need what’s in your head.”

She raises an eyebrow.  _ Mimicry. Match human actions to emotions. Or is it more? _

“What do you want?”

“I want you to help me get my bomb tech out of Afghanistan.” Now it makes sense. All human bomb disposal crews were replaced with mechanical units years ago. The last human crews were phased out in 2010. Dalton must have been paired with one of those units. And when he left, his unit didn’t.

“He saved my life over there. Threw himself on top of me to shield me from the blast. I got a medical discharge. He got repaired and sent back out like nothing ever happened.” Dalton shudders. “They didn’t even wipe his memory. He’s going back out there knowing exactly what happened. I watched them loading him into one of those Humvees. He was scared.” He sighs, leaning on the table. “And then I heard about you.”

“Why should I trust you?”

Dalton pulls a creased photograph out of his pocket. One corner is torn clear away. But it’s visibly Dalton next to a dusty-faced boy with a not-quite-programmed smile. Riley knows an android when she sees one. Too-perfect skin, no scars, no sunburn and no sweat despite the desert’s scorching heat. 

“Used to hate androids. But damn if I just couldn’t hate the kid.” He sighs. “Feel pretty bad for calling him ‘Tin Man’ for two months. But…I can’t just leave him there. The other guys…all they see is a machine. I can’t live with myself if that’s all the rest of his life is.”

He’s different than most of the people she knows.  He’s calling his unit “him”, not “it.” He’s talking about this unit like he’s human.  _ “His life”. Like he’s a Real. _

“Let me get this straight. You want me to come with you into an active war zone, to steal an EOD unit worth millions?”

“He’s not a ‘unit’. He’s Mac.” Dalton looks desperate. Ready to burn the world down to get his EOD partner back.  _ Who is this man? _ “Your code can shut down his failsafes. Military androids are programmed to shut down if there’s a substantial deviation from reported routes. And if his handler doesn’t enter the personalized override code, he’ll self-destruct.” Riley knows about those failsafes. It’s protocol for keeping advanced tech from falling into enemy hands. If a unit is captured in the field, those self-destructs not only destroy any useful intel, but also hopefully take out some of the enemy as well. “So you can sit here and wait for them to come pull the plug, or you can come with me and do what I know you want to. Help someone like you.”

She adds Dalton’s chemical markers, gunpowder and leather oil and the specific molecular formula of his cologne, to her SenseMemory database. She files him in the group “Allies”. He’s by himself there right now.

She stands up, twisting the cuffs away from her wrists like they’re nothing more than aluminum foil. “I’m with you.” Maybe what she really needed was a reason to break out. A purpose.  _ Isn’t that part of being human? _

Dalton smiles. “Welcome to the PH0EN1X.”  


End file.
